Big Bro Or More?
by AnimeFanficQueen2001
Summary: Born as a Neptunian princess and general,Iris was a run away from her home planet,and from her now no longer caring family. Since Spike was the only person she trusted,Iris went to him for help. After Iris joined the crew on the Bebop,Spike had been what Faye calls "over-protective"Spike tells her that they've known each other since before she could walk but Feya sees more too it.
1. Chapter 1

Iris bit her lip, waiting for the "Judgement" her step-mother started to end. This time, no one was with her. She was just a useless rag doll princess to her family now, since there wasn't anything for her General side to do. Iris waited for the man to be killed, holding in her breath as the sound of a gun being picked up echo through the extremely quiet hall. Closing her eyes, she heard the sound of the gun fire and the sound of a body fall to the floor with a muffled thump.

Re-opening her eyes, a pool of blood laid underneath the body of a man- who had done nothing wrong.

"Dismissed." Her step-mother said, standing up from her throne and leaving. "Let's go, Iris. Don't act like a rag doll." A few of the nobles who had heard chuckled–for as far as they knew, she _was_ some rag doll.

"Yes, My Queen..." Iris said, following her out of the court. Her friend/personal guard, Zoro Climes, followed as well, standing by her side.

"Princess..." Zoro placed a hand on her shoulder and brought her to her room, "Do you miss him?"

She knew what Zoro was talking about. Before her step-mother married her father, there was a man called Spike Spiegel, who was the best firearm in her father's training when she about three. Born and raised on Mars in 2044, Spike was one of her best "non-royal-related" friends, standing next to Zoro.

He was lazy, slothful, and listless, but he was a nice guy she love— _actually_ loved. He was older by a number of years, right now it was about thirteen years since he was probably twenty-seven by now, but it hurt more to find out that someone he once loved, Julia, was now missing.

Of course, it didn't concern Iris at all, but she loved the two of them and couldn't stand it. Julia was like her birth mother, kind and sweet, beautiful too. The two could have been related. But, Julia had gone missing after a huge fight where Spike had "died" and where his best friend had gone missing after Julia.

"Of course I miss him...Spike was probably the only one, before you—and only you, to be my best friend." Iris looked down to the handle of her door, "I wish I had gone with him to meet Julia."

"But if you did, you most likely would be hurt like he was—not a good outcome."

"That coming from someone who has an artificial eye like him." Iris looked at him. Zoro sighed, knowing he was beat. Like Spike, Zoro had also gotten into a fight, where he had lost his left eye. Iris had told him one too many times to not go, but he was like Spike–once his mind was made, he went, without anything stopping him. "Honestly, you men are somewhat all the same–you don't listen."

"That's because we have to protect you women from getting into trouble."

"Have you meet Cynthia, Lárisa, Kyra, Ioanna, and me?" Iris crossed her arms, and brought a few of her older sisters- which she knew best as _'not-taking-anyone's-shit-for-another-secoud-'_ group.

He laughed, "One too many times, Princess. One too many." Iris looked at him with a smile, then went into her room. Once the door close, and she heard him walk away, Iris fell to the floor and sighed heavily, trying to keep her stomach calm.

The smell of blood on the floor to have been normal, yes, but her step-mother finds a rather... _heavy_ interest in taking apart the body–that was the smell that made you want to throw-up endlessly.

The smell was hard to describe. The only words you would be able to think of is:"Gross", "Disgusting", and "Horrible". Most of the time, depending on what was done to the body, having an expression to go with the smell was hard–it would have the mix of sadness, disgust, and sickness–hard to pick one especially when that person was a good, they had done nothing wrong in their life time. Having up front experience was better than explaining. Iris had been enduring the smell for about nine years, she sould be use to it by now, but she wasn't.

Her eyes wandered to her desk, where her phone laid. She remebered having Spike's number in case of anything she needed was urgent, but she wasn't sure if he had changed it over the years they hadn't seen each other. Iris stood up and went to her desk for her phone. She went through the contacts and stopped on Spike's. She bit her lip as her finger hovered over it, afraid to tap it. Would he even pick up? More importantly, Was he even _alive_?

Taking the risk, she tapped it and waited.

 _ **It rung...and rung...and rung.**_

Just a few more secounds until it would go to voice mail–or whatever it was called.

"Hello?" a female voice picked it up, that she knew wasn't Julia's. "Can I help you?"

"Y-Yes...I'm looking for Spike Spiegel, I need to talk with him about something important."

"He may not want to hear it, he's quite lazy, I could take a message."

"No, this is very important for him—just put him on the phone."

The woman's voice called him over. Pretty soon, the phone was handed over to someone else.

"This is Spike, what is it?"

"Spike...I need you...Please save me..." Iris begged,trying to hold back her tears that were fighting her to come out,showing that she was both scared and hurt. The feeling of him asking who this was was scary,but it would be reasonable,they haven't spoken since she had been nine–and now that she was fourteen,her voice most likely didn't sound the same.

"Where, _Asteráki_?" Her heart sighed in relief when she heard that. He knew it was her,he had to.

"I'll meet you on the roof...You should know where I live, we haven't moved. Please, I'm losing my mind."

"I got, I'll be there soon...Hm, nothing you should care about, Faye, mind your own business. I'm coming–you can count on it. I'll sort this mess out." Iris only hoped he was right. Getting dressed in her General uniform, she headed out. That wasn't the case however- for her adviser was standing in front of the door.

"General." He said, "Is the Princess alright?"

"She's sleeping, do not bother he, Kien." Although she knew to respect him, when dressed the way she was now, her tongue had no off switch towards people she hated. "I was just heading to get her some water, do you mind moving?"

The man stepped back and grinned, "Of course, General."

Iris closed the door and took her leave down the hall, were she sprinted towards the roof- not wanting to spend another second in the hell she called "home".

* * *

Spike hung up and stared at the floor, he needed to save her before her mind snapped. It had been years- but he knew that she was going to break soon, not matter how strong she was or acted.

Jet looked to him, "What mess,Spike?"

"It's nothing you guys should worry about until I come back. Don't follow me, stay here."

"Who was that girl on the phone, Spike?" Faye asked, being nosy once again.

"A friend, now mind you damn business. I'll back. We're close to Neptune, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Jet gave a confused look while Ed played with Ein in the back.

"Something I need to take of is there. I'll be back."

Spike left to get in his ship, Swordfish II,leaving for Neptune. He narrowed his eyes. It had been sometime since he had seen Iris–or what he called her– "Asteráki(Little Star)". She may have been a kid, but she had grown on him after he had to watch her. Iris' alterego, General Starlina, had sparked his interest since she didn't act like a child and because she was a princess with a rebelious persona-that had been most likely ripped from her own hands.

Iris had grown up around her father–who was a famous, rich, and kind milliary general on Neptune in the year 2057 when he was thirteen. She had a good family growing up, 53 older siblings– more of 52 since she has a slightly older twin brother– a loving mother and father, along with good people to rule over. He heard that the Queen, Iris' mother, died about ten years ago, and the new Queen was ruthless. Iris had been crowed Princess, so he was sure anything the queen did, she was taken to.

Spike sighed. Losing Julia was hard, he was glad that she was alive, but her voice sounded as if she'd break any moment. _Literally._

As the blue planet came into view, he landed carefully on to the ground. The strong winds weren't helping as he tried. Thankfully, the girl was standing there waiting for small form ran over and hugged his waist tightly. Spike smiled slightly. "Hello, it's been a while hasn't it?"

"Spike...let's get out of here before the storms stop." she said,looking at him from the eyes uncovered by the general hat she wore. He climbed in, helping her as well, and took off. Iris removed her hat and rested her head on his chest. Spike felt the wet tears she was letting out wet his clothes as she began sobbing lightly. "T-thank y-you, Akída(Spike)..."

"I'm glad your alright. Why all this time, Asteráki? You know I would have come to save you." It was true, he would have come in the blink of an eye for her. Spike was like her older brother, protective. He was the one who had saved her from the Head Advisor's, Kien, horrible pleaser for her.

"I...I'm sorry...I wasn't sure if you would remember me."

"How could I forget you? You're the only kid I actual like—remember?"

"Thanks, that means a lot..." Iris rolled her eyes and she entered with him "...But, where will we go now?"

"Bebop."

Iris blinked. What the hell was a 'Bebop'? She didn't care, all she did was rest her head on his chest and slowly fall sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Reopening her eyes, Iris found herself in starring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Her back was pressed against something soft and warm, the smell of peppers and beef touched her noise, causing her to sit up. It was dark in the room, a window nowhere to be seen and the sound of a child playing with a dog in the distance touched her ears. The light turned on, blinding her eyes.

"Who are you?" Iris met the eyes of a girl a year younger then she was. A smile was on her face as the dog behind her jumped on to the bed and liked Iris' face.

"I-I'm Iris...Iris Astarte. Who are you?"

The girl smiled brightly, "Ed will introduce Ed. Full name Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV!" She grabbed Iris' hand and brought her outside the room- which she guessed was Spike's- and brought her out to the living room. Spike was there sitting with a woman, her short purple hair being brushed by herself while reading a magazine. The male bounty hunter turned his head and stood up before a second passed.

"Ed, what do you think your doing with Iris?!"

"Ed found her in the room. She was lonely, so Ed brought her here!" Iris looked towards Spike before slightly flinching in pain. Ed let her arm go and stalked off to her computer in the corner with Ein. Spike sighed heavily as he approached her, looking at the arm she held before looking over to the female.

"Faye, do you know how to remove a bullet? If not, ask Jet." The purple haired woman, Faye, just stared before going off to find this 'Jet' person. Spike returned his vison back toward Iris, his eyes narrowed. Putting his hand on the long navy blue sleeve, dark crimson liquid dripping to the floor as it streamed down from her upper arm. "What happened to you?" Iris stood quite as Spike's finger lightly touched the wound. Her body winced. Spike's hand trailed up to her cheek, a serious look on his face, the two of them locking eyes. "What happened? Did she do this to you?"

Iris nodded her head, slowly pulled away. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing important."

"You've been shot, Iris! The blood is dripping to the floor, and you stand here telling me it's not important?!" Spike shouted, placing his hands on the young girl's shoulders. "We need to treat that wound, I don't care what you say!"

"Spike, who are you talking to?" Jet asked, coming from the kitchen with a plates of food- bell peppers and beef- and staring at them. The man blinked before sighing heavily and placing the plates of food on the table. He turned to Iris and observed her arm. "Looks bad. I''l take care of it, you need to eat something." Jet left, leaving Spike and Iris alone once again. Spike took one of the plates and chopstick. Iris sat down and held her arm, her eyes looking away from Spike.

The older male sighed. He stood and walked over, kneeling as he held the chopsticks towards Iris. She didn't say anything, or do anything. Her eyes moved back from the food to Spike. He never liked sharing his food last she checked. In fact, he had a deep hatred for it.

"You need to eat something and the arm that was shot happen to be your dominate one." He said, "Eat something. I'm not going to bother buying you something to eat later."

"You don't have to, Spike...Just drop me off at Mars, my brother owns a hospital there- He'll take care of me if I'm trouble. Besides, I think it's best if I do, this ship seems to be at full capacity- I would only take up space—"

Spike shoved the chopsticks in her mouth. "Now chew." He ordered, "I'm not sending you elsewhere. For all I know, that step-mother of your could have all your siblings searching, maybe even hunting, for you. You're only, what, 14, 15? You have a life a head of you, Iris. I'll take care of you."

Iris, chewing on the peppers shoved in her mouth, simply followed Spike's order. The two kept starring at each other. Not saying one word as Spike kept feeding her a share and eating his. The other members aboard the ships watched from afar, as if waiting for something to be said between the two. Their wish soon came true as Iris opened her mouth to speak. But it was in some foreign language they could not understand.

"(1) _Γιατί το κάνεις αυτό?_ "

"(2) _Εγώ τη φροντίδα σας, είπα ότι ήδη. Μην διαμαρτύρονται για αυτό_." Spike snapped, looking rather annoyed at the girl before placing the chop stick close to her mouth once again. "(3) _Χρωστάω ο πατέρας σου, νεκρός ή ζωντανός, ούτως ή άλλως._ "

Iris' eyes widen for a moment before returning to size. They close and her lips moved. "(4) _Και όταν αυτό το χρέος είναι payed? Τι θα κάνετε με μένα? Βάλτε μου πίσω στους δρόμους και πεθαίνουν?_ "

"I would never do that to you, and you know that fact damn well." Spike growled, "You're the only kid I like having around. Where's Jet? That bullet needs to be removed before you bleed to death...Jet!"

* * *

 _ **(1) Why are you doing this?**_

 _ **(2) I care for you, I alright said that. Don't complain.**_

 _ **(3) I owe you father, dead or alive, anyway.**_

 _ **(4) And when that debt is payed? What will you do with me? Put me back out to the streets and die?**_


	3. Chapter 3

The man with the fake arm returned with a towel and a bowl. "No need for yelling, Spike." he said, placing the items by Iris' side. Her teal eye stared at him for a solid minute before she turned towards Spike.

" _(1)Ποιος είναι αυτός, ακίδα_?" She asked, giving a slight uncomfortable look as Jet's hands lightly moved her arm closer to his eyes.

" _(2)Ένας φίλος, αστεράκι, ένα παλιό φίλο._ " Spike answered back, "Jet, do you think you could remove that bullet?"

The man sighed and rubbed his bald head, looking quite puzzled. The bullet was in deep, yes, but nothing really seemed to be damaged and it was blinking. Were bullets suppose to do that?

"I could but," He looked towards Spike, "Is it suppose to be blinking?"

Spike gave a confused look towards Iris, who's eyes only widen in surprise. Fear clouded her eye and her face paled—that signaled to Spike that it was bad. He thought about it for a moment. The bullet created by Iris' "people" did blink like bombs, but tended to be used as trackers—

"It's a tracker! Get rid of it! _Now!_ " He yelled, his voice sounding more then worried.

Jet nodded his head and pulled the bullet out as carefully and quickly as he could. Iris winched in pain, but did not say a word or let out a single sound. Once the bullet had been pulled out, Spike threw it on the floor and smashed it into pieces with his foot, observing the crushed pieces for anything else. Iris held her arm and breathed in heavily. Spike turned his attention towards the girl. The grip Iris had tightened, as if she were in serious pain and on the verge of death.

"Are you alright, Iris? Someone get bandages!" Spike called as he ripped off a pieces of his sleeve and pressed it against the bleeding wound. The young princess looked up to him with a poker face, her eyes full of pain. She slowly nodded her head as it rested on Spike's chest.

The purple haired woman called 'Faye' handed a roll of bandages to Spike, who grabbed it and wrapped Iris' arm in a hurry. His eyes flashed for a moment, full of fear and worry, as his fingers nimbly moved with the bandages. Faye watched, impressed. She would have never thought that Spike would have such skill or the care do even bother with such a thing. This is a kid for Christ's sake, he _hated_ kids with a passion, along with females. This child was both—she was a kid, or at least looked like it, and was a female. Why wasn't Spike being the rude piece of shit he was?

The girl that laid in his arms was asleep, breathing in normal rhythms. Her slightly tanned skin seemed a bit pale, her teal hair was messy, her body covered in a military uniform that looked very old-fashioned—just who exactly was this?

"Spike, if you don't mind me asking," Faye spoke from the doorway, "Just who is that? She seem rather close to you."

"A friend. This is Iris, she's the crowned princess of Neptune. I've known her since she was little, when I was about her age." Spike answered, "She's also known as the famous General Star around the galaxy, hence why Neptune is feared so much."

"You kidnapped a princess and famous General?! Have you finally lost it?!" Faye's and Jet's voices overlapped at the same time. Who on earth would do such a thing? Kidnapping a girl—who looked rather lonely—wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. This girl was a _crowned princess_ and _famous General_ —two things that the people would want back.

"Wait, if we return her once the report goes up, we could earn a ton of mon—"

"I am not retuning her to the planet! If you want the money, you'll have to pry Iris out of my cold dead arms!" Spike shouted, grabbing Iris' small body and pulling it towards his own in a protective stance. "She just escaped, I refuse to return her."

Iris winched slightly at the sudden action, her eyes opening painfully. They were the same shade of teal as her hair, only looking more dead and lost then anything. The scar of her left cheek was shown as her long bangs moved to the side. Ed watched then pointed towards it for a moment before she had gone back to what she was doing.

"There is a bounty on her head! 'Lost Princess, Reward is over 2,000,000 wonlons'~!" She cheered, "The Queen has requested all bounty hunters search for her and bring her back dead or alive!"

Spike's face twisted into anger. He looked down at Iris, who only narrowed her eyes in sadness before looking back up.

"Take me to Mars...Alexio won't do anything, he hasn't been with my family for years. He's unaware of everything..."

"I doubt that." Spike said, carrying Iris to the couch. He placed her down gently and sat next to her.

"I trust Alexio more then anything, Spike. He's a doctor and refuses to talk with any of our siblings but me and Aikaterina." Iris, the color returning to her a bit better and her voice coming back fully, stared at Spike. Jet and Feya watched and Spike sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Please..."

Spike made a face before placing a hand on Iris' head. "Fine."

Iris' face lit up as she smiled, " _(3)σε ευχαριστώ!_ "

Spike turned towards Jet with an awkward look on his face. Jet gave a sly grin before he stood up and head towards the ship's mainframe. Faye sent Spike a strange look. She was quite jealous by the fact this girl could easily make Spike do what she wanted, but there was the fact he knew her most likely longer then any one on the Bebop has.

She sat down on the other couch, giving Spike strange looks. The green haired male didn't seem to care as he began talking with Iris in the same language as before. It was a surprise to her that he even knew foreign languages.

" _(4)Είστε βέβαιοι ότι αυτός θα βοηθήσει εμάς, Ίρις?_ "

" _(5) Εμπιστεύομαι Αλέξιο, αυτός είναι ο μόνος αδελφός που ξέρω ότι θα κρατήσει όλα ένα μυστικό, θα πρέπει να με εμπιστευθείτε._ " Iris gave a serious look. Spike only sighed once again and nodded his head, not wanting to argue with Iris.

* * *

 **(1) Who is he, Spike?**

 **(2) A friend, Little star, an old friend.**

 **(3) Thank you!**

 **(4) Are you sure he'll help us, Iris?**

 **(5)I trust Alexio, he's the only brother I know would keep everything a secret, you have to trust me**


End file.
